| title | Modify Visual Studio Workloads and Components | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| titleSuffix | |||||
| description | Modify your Visual Studio installation with the Visual Studio Installer. Add or remove workloads, components, and language packs. | ||||
| ms.date | 2/24/2026 | ||||
| ms.topic | how-to | ||||
| ms.custom | vs-acquisition | ||||
| helpviewer_keywords |
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| author | anandmeg | ||||
| ms.author | meghaanand | ||||
| manager | mijacobs | ||||
| ms.subservice | installation |
It's easy to modify Visual Studio so that it includes only what you want. To do so, open Visual Studio Installer, and then add or remove workloads, components, and language packs. This article walks you through the process.
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By default, to install, update, or modify Visual Studio, the account performing the update must have administrative permissions on the machine. It must also have permissions to the source where the product updates are located (either the internet or an internal location). If you're signed in as a typical user and try to perform one of these commands, you get a User Account Control notice prompting you for admin credentials. An admin can delegate control of modifying Visual Studio to standard users by configuring the AllowStandardUserControl policy. For more information, see User Permissions and Visual Studio.
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The following procedures are written with the assumption that you have an internet connection. For information about how to modify a previously created offline installation of Visual Studio, see:
To modify your Visual Studio installation, you need to open Visual Studio Installer and then select a Visual Studio installation to modify.
::: moniker range="vs-2022"
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There are many ways to open Visual Studio Installer:
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On the Windows Start menu, you can search for "installer" and then select Visual Studio Installer from the results.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer.png " alt-text="Screenshot of the result of a Start menu search for Visual Studio Installer.":::
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Run the Visual Studio Installer executable file, which is located at
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\setup.exe. -
If you have Visual Studio open, select Tools > Get Tools and Features.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-tools-menu.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Visual Studio 2022 tools menu. Get Tools and Features is highlighted.":::
You might be prompted to update the Visual Studio Installer before continuing. If you are, follow the prompts.
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In Visual Studio Installer, look for the installation of Visual Studio that you want to modify and then select Modify.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-modify.png" alt-text="Screenshot of a list of Visual Studio installations in Visual Studio Installer.":::
::: moniker-end
::: moniker range="visualstudio"
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There are many ways to open Visual Studio Installer:
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On the Windows Start menu, you can search for "installer" and then select Visual Studio Installer from the results.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer.png " alt-text="Screenshot of the result of a Start menu search for Visual Studio Installer.":::
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Run the Visual Studio Installer executable file, which is located at
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\setup.exe. -
If you have Visual Studio open, select Tools > Get Tools and Features.
:::image type="content" source="media/visualstudio/vs-tools-menu.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Visual Studio tools menu. Get Tools and Features is highlighted.":::
You might be prompted to update the Visual Studio Installer before continuing. If you are, follow the prompts.
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In Visual Studio Installer, look for the installation of Visual Studio that you want to modify and then select Modify.
:::image type="content" source="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-modify.png" alt-text="Screenshot of a list of Visual Studio installations in Visual Studio Installer.":::
::: moniker-end
::: moniker range="vs-2022"
Workloads contain the components you need for the programming language or platform that you use. Use workloads to modify Visual Studio so that it supports the work you want to do.
Tip
For more information about which tools and component bundles you need for development, see Visual Studio workloads.
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In Visual Studio Installer, on the Workloads tab, select the workloads that you want.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-modify-workloads.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Workloads tab of Visual Studio Installer." lightbox="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-modify-workloads.png":::
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To add more components than a workload installs, on the Individual components tab, select the individual components that you want.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-individual-components.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Individual components tab of Visual Studio Installer." lightbox="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-individual-components.png":::
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You can select the default Install while downloading or Download all, then install.
:::image type="content" source="media/vs-2022/vs-installer-choose-install-or-download.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the download and install options in Visual Studio Installer.":::
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Select Modify.
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After the modified workloads or components are installed, select Launch in Visual Studio Installer to open Visual Studio 2022.
You can also use a configuration file to modify an existing installation to add or remove components. For more information, see Import or export installation configurations.
::: moniker-end
::: moniker range="visualstudio"
Workloads contain the components you need for the programming language or platform that you use. Use workloads to modify Visual Studio so that it supports the work you want to do.
Tip
For more information about which tools and component bundles you need for development, see Visual Studio workloads.
-
In Visual Studio Installer, on the Workloads tab, select the workloads that you want.
:::image type="content" source="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-modify-workloads.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Workloads tab of Visual Studio Installer." lightbox="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-modify-workloads.png":::
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To add more components than a workload installs, on the Individual components tab, select the individual components that you want.
:::image type="content" source="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-individual-components.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the Individual components tab of Visual Studio Installer." lightbox="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-individual-components.png":::
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You can select the default Install while downloading or Download all, then install.
:::image type="content" source="media/visualstudio/vs-installer-choose-install-or-download.png" alt-text="Screenshot of the download and install options in Visual Studio Installer.":::
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Select Modify.
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After the modified workloads or components are installed, select Launch in Visual Studio Installer to open Visual Studio.
You can also use a configuration file to modify an existing installation to add or remove components. For more information, see Import or export installation configurations.
::: moniker-end
Tip
For information about the SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) component, see Download and install SSDT for Visual Studio.
Visual Studio Installer selects a default language pack for Visual Studio that matches the language of your operating system. You can change the default language whenever you want.
To change the default language:
- Select the Language packs tab in Visual Studio Installer.
- Select the language you prefer.
- Follow the prompts.
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